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The recent European Commission Communication Attracting Skills and Talent to the EU outlined an ambitious agenda of steps to strengthen the Union’s ability to attract and retain international workers, including a proposed EU Youth Mobility Scheme. With the Commission set to explore the feasibility of developing such a scheme, this policy brief contains some initial thoughts on the potential of an interim scheme to support an enabling environment for the bigger policy framework being worked on by the European Commission. A more incremental, low-risk pilot Student Working Holiday Visa scheme would allow for a “proof of concept” that international students want to travel and work in Europe, that they will take up jobs in sectors with seasonal labour shortages and that they will thereafter return to their home country to complete their studies.

With irregular migration high on the EU agenda, governments have increasingly recognized the potential of intervening before and while migrants embark on an irregular journey and providing them with information through awareness-raising activities. Information campaigns thus represent a significant field of investment and action: Individual EU Member States and the European Commission commissioned over 100 migration information campaigns in countries of origin and transit during the 2014-2019 period alone. This policy brief explores how information campaigns can be implemented and further studied to improve their efficacy.

The purpose of this ICAT brief is to shed light on the concept of vulnerability and the different dimensions and factors that make a person vulnerable to trafficking in persons while providing recommendations to relevant stakeholders in addressing those factors and mitigating the related risks.

Author: Inter-Agency Coordination Group against TIP (ICAT)

External Author: 

Franck Düvell 

As displacement continues to rise globally, more and more people are ‘stuck’ in situations of protracted displacement, where they find themselves in a long-term situation of vulnerability, dependency and legal insecurity, lacking or actively denied opportunities to rebuild their lives. While the protracted nature of many conflicts is a critical contributing factor, there is considerable room for improvement in policies and practices to more effectively address protracted displacement—and an urgent need to strengthen responses. The complicated ‘maze’ of international, national and local laws, policies and practices often backfires, exacerbating precarity and preventing many displaced persons from finding sustainable solutions for themselves and from contributing to receiving communities. 

It is not only the widening gap between the scale of displacement and the solutions offered but also the diversity of individual profiles and experiences that underscores the urgent need to expand the range of solutions so that more displaced persons can find long-term prospects. A paradigm shift that places people at the heart of solutions, meaning that countries enable displaced persons to make use of their own capacities, would open new doors for people to become ‘self-reliant’. Such an approach is not only vital for addressing existing protracted situations—but it can also help prevent those more recently displaced from finding themselves in protracted situations in the future. This policy brief highlights entry points for European stakeholders seeking solutions for (protracted) displacement.
 

The Common European Asylum System prohibits the mobility of persons entitled to international protection within the European Union, making it more difficult for displaced persons to rebuild their lives even after arriving in Europe and receiving protection status. Recent developments soften this strict policy of immobility for some. In this context, intra-EU mobility based on refugees’ skills could become a game-changer. The tools are there. What is needed now is to connect these initiatives so that more displaced persons can use their skills for their benefit and that of receiving countries. This practice note discusses the different pieces of the puzzle for supporting displaced persons in making use of their skills for their benefit and that of receiving EU countries.

La ville de Sousse attire principalement trois catégories de migrants, à savoir, les migrants tunisiens en provenance des régions de l’intérieur, les migrants Tunisiens qui rentrent de l’étranger et, les migrants étrangers en provenance principalement d’Afrique subsaharienne, d’autres pays du Maghreb ou d’Europe. En 10 ans (1999-2004 et 2009-2014) la ville de Sousse a accueilli 73 351 migrants internes, ce qui représente 61,5% de l’ensemble des 119 952 migrants internes qui étaient entrés dans le gouvernorat de Sousse durant la même période.

Parler de personnes qui traversent des frontières physiques et idéologiques dans le détroit de Gibraltar revient à décrire le paysage complexe des mobilités typiques des régions transfrontalières. Nous reprenons dans le document « Termes fondamentaux sur la migration » (OIM, 2020) les différentes définitions légales qui construisent les personnes en déplacement dans la zone du détroit. Les personnes en déplacement sont soumises à un régime de migration ainsi qu’à un régime frontalier ayant des dimensions différentes (juridique, exécutive, technologique et idéologique)39 et qui créent une série de classifications qui déterminent l'accès aux droits fondamentaux sur les deux côtes.

Migration information campaigns have become a popular policy mechanism amongst donors and implementers to deter irregular migration. With the increasing number of information campaigns introduced in countries of origin, attention is also being focused towards the design of these campaigns, including considerations on engaging people that can act as “credible messengers” or “key influencers” to convey the content of the campaign. It is in this line that campaign funders and designers are exploring the potential of involving diaspora members as messengers in information campaigns. Backed by a dedicated research study on diaspora engagement in information campaigns under the PARIM project, this policy brief questions the assumptions behind engaging diaspora members as “credible messengers”. One major assumption is that since potential migrants rely on friends and family abroad for their migration process, following the same principle, they would be more receptive to information received through diaspora members in campaigns. However, this policy brief argues that diaspora members engaged in campaigns are imperfect proxies for potential migrants’ friends and family abroad. With this caveat, it presents certain considerations to take into account when designing a migration information campaign that involves diaspora members as messengers.

This study examines expert knowledge and survey data on youth aspirations in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia to see how the EU's Talent Partnerships might be used to increase youth employment and mobility within and from these countries.

External authors

Algeria: Yasmine Musette

Libya: Mustapha Kaaniche

Morocco: Hajar El Moukhi

Tunisia: Wajih Khallouli